


Sink In

by ohstardust



Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Christmas Parties, F/M, Fluff, Good Wingmen disguised as drunk friends, Mark barely makes a passing appearance, Sort of friends to lovers, Ugly Sweaters, longtime crushes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21963202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohstardust/pseuds/ohstardust
Summary: I adore Chris Beck more than most people and characters and there’s so many ways that we could write him due to there being very little about his character, both in the film and the book, so I’m taking liberties and turning him into the cute, geeky nerd that he pretty much already is.Written for @interestedbystanderwrites 12 Days of Christmas Drabbles - December 20th
Relationships: Chris Beck & Reader, Chris Beck/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Sink In

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Chris Beck more than most people and characters and there’s so many ways that we could write him due to there being very little about his character, both in the film and the book, so I’m taking liberties and turning him into the cute, geeky nerd that he pretty much already is.
> 
> Written for @interestedbystanderwrites 12 Days of Christmas Drabbles - December 20th

Ugly Christmas sweaters, an appalling festive playlist and approximately eighty-two fire hazards, only signified one thing - Angie was hosting another friendly holiday gathering. There was nothing quiet or sophisticated about the woman’s celebrations. She was an unassuming wild card with shoulder length almost-black hair and a fringe almost touching her eyelashes, who came across as calm and sleek but could drink any man under the table, and liked to secretly orchestrate sheer chaos.

It had been a few years since you’d involved yourself in Angie’s festivities, the host was more your friend’s friend than your own. Ronnie may have been your closest friend for a good ten years, but she was more of a lively fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants girl who had befriended Angie at a yoga class, a trait that you yourself didn’t share. How Ronnie and you he stayed friends all these years was virtually a mystery.

Ronnie was wine drunk and babbling on about the ‘hot new guy at work’ by ten pm and you were fastidiously trying to find a strong enough reason to excuse yourself from the party and head home because this was getting tedious, smacks of your teenage years hitting you every so often and you’d long outgrown the party scene that you seldom partook in even back then.

“Look, Ron, I’m exh-“

“Honestly he’s got these green eyes that I can’t even begin to describe, like he’s actually perfect.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great, I’m just gonna head o-“

“Hey, hey,” she said, smacking your arm, suddenly more alert and less wine hazed, “isn’t that Chris Beck?”

You tried not to whip around to get a glimpse of the man, but high school felt like so long ago and it had been years since you’d clocked eyes on him.

He looked so sheepish beside Mark Watney, Angie’s long-time boyfriend, just as he always had done in school. He was shy around those he didn’t really know, especially large crowds, and he’d had a tendency to just shrink behind his friends, to blend into the background and let everyone’s attention focus on everyone else around him. Chris Beck had always been one of the cute, nerdy types in your classes, ridiculously smart, head buried in library books and excelled in Biology studies. Only just last year had he graduated from the Yale School of Medicine, an achievement very little of your peers had in them. It seemed the past few years had aged him rather well and you felt your cheeks tingling.

You raised your wine glass to your lips and tilted back, taking a long sip and swinging back ground to glance in the opposite direction, “Uh hmm, yeah that’s Beck.”

“Please tell me you don’t still have that ridiculous crush on him?”

“That wasn’t me, Ronnie,” your eyes rolled and you grinned, pointing at her, “that was you.”

She giggled and took another sip of her drink, “Oh yeah, so it was.” Without missing a beat she took off in his direction, sashaying her way through the groups of attendees, much to your sheer mortification.

“ _Ronnie, what in the hell are you doing?_ ” You muttered. So maybe you weren’t entirely honest with your oldest friend, but you weren’t anywhere close to admitting your small attraction to your ex-classmate, heaven knows what she’d let slip to him if she was given the ammunition.

You watched on half in terror and half admiration as your friend interacted with Mark before moving on to Chris, she was grinning something wicked and you should have feared her more when you watched her turn, lean in close to him with her arm looped through his, and a finger pointed at you. Curiously you watched on as he ducked his head with a small smile and briefly shook it from side to side. Ronnie refused to let him have whatever moment he was evidently having and he begrudgingly trudged behind the woman, his feet dragging slightly.

“Darlings, you’re both cute, single and need to get laid - so interact with each other.” She preposterously winked and nudged the pair of you together and barked out a laugh as she wobbled off to her other friends.

“Jesus, that’s the last time I let her loose with both wine _and_ gin.”

“She’s feisty, that’s for sure.”

“So about what she said, you don’t have to be over here talking to me, I’m sure there at least _five_ other people here that are sober enough to have a half decent conversation with,” you glanced around the room and comedically scrunched your eyes, “eh, _maybe,_ give or take a few.”

“Maybe, but I’ll bet you’re better company,” his smile was infectious and up close it was evident how much he’d filled out since high school, his shoulders broader, physique more solid, but those eyes had not dimmed in the slightest, they still sparkled, “besides, you do look cute in that somewhat interesting jumper.”

You couldn’t help the glint in your eyes as you teased him, “Christopher Beck, are you - are you _flirting_ with me?”

Beck quirked an eyebrow and smirked slightly, his head cocked to the side with an air of confidence you had not witnessed on him before, “You know? I think maybe I am; I’ve only wanted to do that since we were thirteen years old. And I know I’m sort of ten years too late in attempting to make any kind of move on you, but when better than at Chri-.”

Without taking a moment to think you gripped Beck’s face between your hands and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, hoping you were picking up what he was putting down, hoping to any potential higher being that may be out there that he wasn’t joking around with you because you couldn’t bear this rapidly growing crush that you’d been harbouring for him for years. Seeing him again brought up all of these old niggling feelings that you were sure had vanished, but the apparently dormant ones were staying to activate again.

He stroked your cheek and shook his head with a soft smile, “Let’s try that again, you missed.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [ohstardust](https://ohstardust.tumblr.com) if you wanna chat about characters, writing or just a general chit chat.
> 
> I've also started a fic rec blog too over at [ohmoonbeam](https://ohmoonbeam.tumblr.com).


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